I got bored, and I feel like I should pass down information that has been passed down to me. Just because someone wrote something about captain under 200 games...i thought I would like to up that

These rules are for the purpose of getting points ONLY (not for those who want to have fun and enjoy the different maps).

Rules to follow:

1. Know the basic rules of the game.

2. play freestyle (learn how to use the freestyle system to your advantage and it's just faster than waiting 24 hours for everyone to finish their turn), unlimited fortification (will explain later) and no FOW

3. play 8 player games standard games (you win more points than you lose)

4. Play flatrate or no spoils (i prefer flatrate, since give some incentive to attack) and automatic deployment.Reason for non-escalation is escalation games diplomacy is pretty much irrelevant (just set up and go for the sweep). Reason for automatic is forces players have to work with what they have and use diplomacy to get what they want.

5. Use the chat box!

By using diplomacy, you can turn losing situations into winning ones. I have seen too many times one player gets super strong and winning while no one talks. The chat box is there for a reason! Make truces, alliances, backstab, it's all part of the game. See someone getting strong, make alliances and bring the top player down! I don't care what people say, the more truces you have, the more chance you get to be left alone and build up your army. Oh yeah, don't attack people for no reason unless you got overwhelming force, wars of attrition don't end well for either players.

6. Think of your armies as bargaining tools

Please don't waste your first cash-in on suicidal attacks, think of your armies as bargaining tools in a world of diplomacy to co-hoerce, threaten, etc. Aka, you got a region you want to keep, but has too many borders? Take the 3rd crusade map for example. Spain can be defending by placing all your troops on Castile (need min 15+ to be effective deterrent) and leaving 1s everywhere else. By leaving 1s on your opponent's borders but with a large army behind it, most players won't bother breaking your bonus because they are not threatened by 1s nor will they want to see 15+ troops potentially crashing into their bonuses. This strategy we'll call the arrow because you are threatening anyone who comes in range (aka breaks your bonus).

Another strategy for bargaining is playing hardball also known as the sword. Have one very LARGE army (90% of your troops and min. 20-30% of troops on the whole board to be effective) on as many borders as possible and leave everything else lightly defended. Basically anyone who breaks your bonus, will be threatened with your large army crashing into them. This strategy allows you to hold bonuses that have just too many borders to defend properly. Remember this is a 6+ player game, each player will be looking after their own interest and no one will risk having 20-30% of the game's total army crashing into their region. Once you have a dominant army then you can start expanding into the area of your interest while threatening anyone who opposes you with your colossal army and pick your enemies off one by one. If someone calls your bluff, you have few choices. A. Annihilate them depending on how many troops they have. B. Beat them up a bit without wasting too many of your troops and give them a warning that if they do that again, you will wipe them from the map. C. If they are of relative strength or stronger than switch over to another strategy because the sword only works if you and your allies have a leading position on the map.

Another strategy people use is what i call the shield. Leaving 3s in each of their territories so people are less likely to plow into their regions only most likely just hit on area to break the bonus. This way, with just 3s, you are not a large threat to anyone so they are less likely to attack you. However the shield can quickly turn into the sword, (in unlimited fortification settings only) by going last (again using freestyle setting), you can fortify all your 3s onto one territory at end of turn, and the moment someone starts you can unleash your army (usually this move is your bid to take the game b/c if you fail, you will be in a terrible position). For example you have 14 territory with just 3s? Doesn't look that threatening right? well once all fortified to one area, that is 13x2+3 = 29 troops on any one of your borders (assuming you don't have certain territories with more than 3). That;s enough troops to make a winning bid.

Remember, these strategies mostly work when there are 4+ players on the board because everyone is looking after their own interest so divide and conquer strategies tend to work. Use your armies to create alliances, truce, threaten to your advantage. Make sure you are one of the last 3 players left because once it's down the 3 players, the dynamic of the game changes a lot. The shield strategy works the best once down to 3 players because you will appear weak since you can't project much power with just 3s and it's a pain having to attack random 3s (we know how shitting dices are) and no player will do that unless they are committing to kill you which hardly should happen when down to 3 players cause they have the other player to worry about. So once you build enough troops, switch over to sword and go for the win.

7. Pick a fairly complex map and specialize in it (i don't care if you lose your first 20 games, you will slowly understand how to play it which will give you an advantage over other players)

Specialize usually means know how the winning player used their territories and how they won. Different regions in the map have a general strategy of how to win Learn them (not only for you to use but also to counter other players from making winning moves). Some maps have special rules, know how to use those rules to your maximum advantage (i.e. Waterloo map, don't leave 1s because they will be bombarded costing ur opponents usually 0 troops to take out yours)

8. Don't get disheartened if you fail, you can only go up!

I would like to dedicate this strategy guide to Kiron (who got me into playing conquerclub and teaching me some tricks).

this is absolutely the best strategy to do well as a freemium, all of the top 4 people that have never had premium (there are two freemies there that are over 1000 games, so I assume they had premium at one point) use this strategy. I'm including mhennigan who is not on the scoreboard right now because he hasn't taken a turn in the past 30 days. You are the 4th, I don't know anything about the freemies beyond you.

The best way to get to the top of the scoreboard, though, is team games. Almost all premiums that are up there got there because they play almost solely team games. You don't get as many points per game, so it takes more games to get up there, but you also don't have to sleep with your computer by your head waking you up throughout the night because you can take a turn in some big freestyle game.

Personally, I can't stand to do either one. After about two weeks of focusing on big freestyle games (after trying to get rid of other games for 2 weeks before that), I get over 2100 points, then I get bored and go back to the fun stuff, like 1v1 and assassin. The only way I would get to colonel is by actually getting really good at doubles, I could see myself playing almost all doubles for a while to get to colonel, other than that, way too boring.

You forgot playing team games with people lower ranked than you, against randoms who don't know what they're doing, on a map that your team knows by heart, with the team all acting as a cohesive unit. That's another excellent strategy.

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hello xiangwang, I am a pretty new player and I want to see myself on the first page of the scoreboard. I have done well on the 2 player games that I played as a new recruit, but it makes sense that those can't take you to the top. I also am trying one escalating game on the World 2.1 map, because that is what Thai Robert does and he is #2 on the scoreboard with only 230 games played =OO. I think I like your strategy better though. I looked at you and Kiron, and I think I like the looks of your map, Third Crusade, better than Waterloo, his main map, though he does play with more variety. I hope your strategy works for me!!!!

Would it be okay if you put on my wall, or send me a Private Message the next time you start a Third Crusade game, I would just like to see you in action, to learn from the best =D.

Commander62890 wrote:Shouldn't Standard Freestyle Escalating be easier and have a higher ceiling than all of this diplomacy?

Escalating has too much element of luck involved. I played escalation for awhile, but when you fail to beat 5 with 8 troops for that winning bid you pretty much auto lose cause someone else will take them and sweep for the win. At least with diplomacy you have more CONTROL over the game, afterall, you want to rely as little as you can on the luck of the dice (I have seen 27 troops lose to 10 before!). Fail that major attack? Sure you board position is weaker, but at least it's not AUTOLOSE like in escalation, you have a chance of coming back with some savvy diplomacy.

Also in escalation, when you get a card set has a huge element of luck as well. In standard, cardsets are nice, but not necessary, difference between 4 and 10 troops isn't as large cashing in with 3 cards or forced to wait until turn to cash set in to get potentially 30+ troops. Also, bonuses don't mean too much in escalation unless playing a VERY large map, even then bonuses get irrelevant when cards are getting 100+ troops/turn. Standard is down to board position, diplomacy, and long term strategy. There is just more control in the game, sure all the players can try to use the freestyle 'free turn' to their advantage, that is something you have to take into account when planning out your moves. Know someone want to get the russia bonus (classic map) for 1 free turn when you just broke it, don't leave a 1 army there, leave 10 armies there so they can't take it back that turn.

I am also starting the like the 3rd crusade map more than waterloo, the objective win makes is soo much more interesting and brings in a whole new tactical element. Waterloo is easy to master (just don't leave 1s that will get bombarded), while 3rd crusade seems more challenging.

I guess when you get past 3000 points and you are playing with randoms, you don't want to lose 40+ points to one bad dice especially when a win only gets you like 30-40 points, hence you want more elements of control over the game which escalation just doesn't provide.

Last edited by Kiron on Sun Aug 15, 2010 6:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Commander62890 wrote:Shouldn't Standard Freestyle Escalating be easier and have a higher ceiling than all of this diplomacy?

Also in escalation, when you get a card set has a huge element of luck as well. In standard, cardsets are nice, but necessary, difference between 4 and 10 troops isn't as large cashing in with 3 cards or forced to wait until turn to cash set in to get potentially 30+ troops. Also, bonuses don't mean too much in escalation unless playing a VERY large map, even then bonuses get irrelevant when cards are getting 100+ troops/turn. Standard is down to board position, diplomacy, and long term strategy. There is just more control in the game, sure all the players can try to use the freestyle 'free turn' to their advantage, that is something you have to take into account when planning out your moves. Know someone want to get the russia bonus (classic map) for 1 free turn when you just broke it, don't leave a 1 army there, leave 10 armies there so they can't take it back that turn.

I think you meant to say cardsets are NOT necessary. I have taken turns where i didn't bother grabbing cards when i was weak to avoid getting killed for cards or there were no territories worth killing to get a card.

Honestly i've been doing the exact same stuff the past couple months guys. I have specialized in the third crusade map, same settings and all.was at cook, 800ish points, now have twelve hundred fifty games or so into it. you'd do well to go with it.

No offense, but this thread contradicts the ranking part of the instructions on the game. It clearly states that in order to become a colonel, you need to have a score of between (and including) 2500 and 2999 and FINISHED at least 100 GAMES. How would it then be possible to get to colonel UNDER 100 games?

Joodoo wrote:No offense, but this thread contradicts the ranking part of the instructions on the game. It clearly states that in order to become a colonel, you need to have a score of between (and including) 2500 and 2999 and FINISHED at least 100 GAMES. How would it then be possible to get to colonel UNDER 100 games?

I could of completed 1000 games and then got to colonel in under 100 games once I reached 1000 games

Joodoo wrote:No offense, but this thread contradicts the ranking part of the instructions on the game. It clearly states that in order to become a colonel, you need to have a score of between (and including) 2500 and 2999 and FINISHED at least 100 GAMES. How would it then be possible to get to colonel UNDER 100 games?

I could of completed 1000 games and then got to colonel in under 100 games once I reached 1000 games

Sorry if I interpreted it wrong, I thought that he might have been directing this thread towards new players with little or no game experience and teach them how to increase their score at a rapid rate. I felt getting to colonel under 100 games would be misleading if that was the case.

Joodoo wrote:No offense, but this thread contradicts the ranking part of the instructions on the game. It clearly states that in order to become a colonel, you need to have a score of between (and including) 2500 and 2999 and FINISHED at least 100 GAMES. How would it then be possible to get to colonel UNDER 100 games?

I could of completed 1000 games and then got to colonel in under 100 games once I reached 1000 games

Sorry if I interpreted it wrong, I thought that he might have been directing this thread towards new players with little or no game experience and teach them how to increase their score at a rapid rate. I felt getting to colonel under 100 games would be misleading if that was the case.

most people see getting to colonel as having a score of 2500 not having the icon next to your name

Joodoo wrote:No offense, but this thread contradicts the ranking part of the instructions on the game. It clearly states that in order to become a colonel, you need to have a score of between (and including) 2500 and 2999 and FINISHED at least 100 GAMES. How would it then be possible to get to colonel UNDER 100 games?

I could of completed 1000 games and then got to colonel in under 100 games once I reached 1000 games

Sorry if I interpreted it wrong, I thought that he might have been directing this thread towards new players with little or no game experience and teach them how to increase their score at a rapid rate. I felt getting to colonel under 100 games would be misleading if that was the case.

most people see getting to colonel as having a score of 2500 not having the icon next to your name

Actually that is false. Try getting into 2500+ games with a lt logo. You will have an uphill fight every time.

Joodoo wrote:No offense, but this thread contradicts the ranking part of the instructions on the game. It clearly states that in order to become a colonel, you need to have a score of between (and including) 2500 and 2999 and FINISHED at least 100 GAMES. How would it then be possible to get to colonel UNDER 100 games?

I could of completed 1000 games and then got to colonel in under 100 games once I reached 1000 games

Sorry if I interpreted it wrong, I thought that he might have been directing this thread towards new players with little or no game experience and teach them how to increase their score at a rapid rate. I felt getting to colonel under 100 games would be misleading if that was the case.

most people see getting to colonel as having a score of 2500 not having the icon next to your name

Actually that is false. Try getting into 2500+ games with a lt logo. You will have an uphill fight every time.

But if someone did that i would still think of them as a colonel wouldnt you? that is all im trying to say.

Also im not sure if i could do it in 40 games but i definitely could do it in 100 games